WTF NYC moment of the week

The other day, I had an errand to do: I needed to pick up my race number from NYRR HQ on the Upper East Side. I also needed to go for a run so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. It was actually quite lovely; I got to see parts of the city that I hadn’t really paid attention to before (at least not on foot). Crosstown to 1st Ave, uptown past the medical centers, the UN, and Trump Tower, and then west toward Central Park….

…and that is where I saw the gondola. Honestly, nothing really surprises me in this city anymore, but if I had to name something that I thought I’d see on 60th St, “a gondola” wouldn’t have cracked the top thousand.

(This gondola – which apparently is called the Roosevelt Island Tram, but make no mistake, it’s a freakin’ gondola – apparently shuttles pedestrians across the Queensboro Bridge. Kind of bizarre.)

Anyway, it was a lovely run. Up to E 89th, pick up my stuff, then across the park to the C train back home. Probably about 7-7.5 miles? And it was great to get out and run in sunny, 35-degree weather before this whole cold/snowy thing hit last night.

Central Park was particularly lovely:

Taken with my brand new iPod! It has a video function, so I snapped a short video then captured a still from it in Quicktime. Just lovely. This was looking south over the reservoir.

Today’s EAT: Lunch. I woke up feeling kind of crappy and laid in bed all morning. (This is a major benefit of working from home…my laptop moves to my bed if necessary!) By lunchtime, I was starving and craving miso soup, so I poked around on seamlessweb for a sushi restaurant and found Aja Sushi. Well, I couldn’t order JUST the soup, so I ended up with soup, two rolls, and a couple of pieces of sushi. I have to say, it was pretty decent. LOTS of fish in the rolls, and the pieces of sushi were very generously cut – so while it wasn’t the best sushi I’ve had ever, it was a great value. Will order it again for sure.

Today’s DRINK: My throat was sore this morning, but not too sore for happy hour tonight! I met some friends at The Library in the East Village, which is a total dive (my favorite) and has a fantastic happy hour.

Today’s RUN: Nada – tomorrow is race day. Or, rather, drag-my-ass-out-of-bed-for-five-miles day. Honestly, I don’t have huge expectations for my five-miler tomorrow, given that I’m semi-sick and it’s like 12 degrees outside. But at least I’ll get out there and do it – better than nothing!